My favourite ever cover of G2 consisted of an entirely black background with, in tiny white type, the words "oh god". That was after the re election of George Bush in 2004.

I'd like a reprise.

Boris Johnson -- or as some horrifying idiot on the radio just called him, "BoJo" (angels are weeping) -- just won the mayoral election by about 14,000 votes. He won the first round by about 200,000 votes. He mostly got a huge vote from the leafy rich parts of outer London, which makes me wish to reduce everything outside of zone 3 to a heap of molten slag but that might be a slight over-reaction.

Don't come crying to me when the dandelion-haired tosser makes gaffe after gaffe and lets 4x4s range free all over London, their noxious drivers barging everyone else out of the way.

His acceptance speech was pretty perfect; I just don't believe it's the precursor of anything good

And as for the 69,000 people who voted for the BNP as their first preference, I hope you have piles the size of rugby balls every last day of your life, you despicable racist wastes of DNA.

I don't loathe him that much. When he was this Tory clown on the telly or MP for somewhere rich I couldn't give a toss about, that was fine. He added to the gaeity of nations by pissing off the entire city of Liverpool or shagging the nanny and getting caught. He's even quite witty

But the amount of nauseating crowing of the Tories and the prospect of this rightwinger in charge of the city where I live at a time that's so important for its future? No. And I don't know *anyone* who voted for him. Some bugger must have

It was one of Tony Blair's bright ideas. For most of the last century there was a London council of some kind, latterly the GLC, which was pretty leftwing and controlled by Ken Livingstone.

There were lots of tales in the press about how they voted grants to lesbian disabled whales etc, which were rightwing propaganda, but they were also pretty leftwing, so Thatcher got her own back by abolishing it in 1986 and selling off the beautiful building by the Thames to a Japanese consortium, even though it is said London's traffic lights are still controlled from there.

London is so huge though that it needs someone to have a say on things which are citywide like crime, transport, housing and so on. Otherwise the borough councils would be uncoordinated in their response to the problems.

When Blair came to power, much influenced by the US, he declared they should try to have an elected mayor like New York because London's too big just to have a bunch of disparate local councils.

Ken Livingstone, by then a Labour MP, threw his hat into the ring for the new post. Blair said the political equivalent of "oh hell NO" and rushed someone else into being Labour's candidate. Ken said he would run anyway and Blair chucked him out of the Labour party. Ken won magnificently.

After a respectable interval, Blair welcomed Ken back into the Labour party and he won a second four-year term. That has just ended.

They are. They won all over England and Wales yesterday. It felt like 1994ish again, with the government rudderless and on a major wobble and the rejuvenated opposition scenting victory in the next big election. Only it's the *Tories* now.

Yeah. That was the single most depressing political night of my adult life, probably because it was the first time I had ever voted and my vote counted for nothing. I think the current government are a bit crap but their replacements in 2010 -- cos I think we're getting a Tory government next -- are only going to be more hateful.

I just read someone who posted that on Friendsfriends, and I just restrained myself from posting "you know what, FUCK OFF" Because obviously that would have been a mature response which would have convinced her of my political acumen. But I thought it *really* loud.

I think part of the reason he was able to clinch it was that he appeared to be "a funny guy." Half my office voted for him because Ken has been constantly slagged off in the papers and tv news, while Boris has been on tv shows being funny.

Style over content. Just like Dubya. Hopefully we won't suffer as badly under Boris as the US under him.

GRARGH wtf to both the Bojo votes and the BNP votes. Damn, London. And I was just thinking today how much I miss the place (currently in Dublin with parents).

How is life looking for you in the near future? We are way overdue for hanging out. Week after next I will be mostly free while my parents are off traveling. Another option is, kestrelsan will be visiting toward the end of May if you'd like to come out for drinks or a meal.